Of Penguins and Men

I found March of the Penguins to be a beautifully filmed nature documentary – a veritable visual masterpiece. As a nature photographer, it’s impossible for me to watch such a film without wondering about the photographer’s perspective and also appreciating the technical and logistical achievement. I purchased the DVD last night and was very pleased to find an hour long documentary about the documentary titled "Of Penguins and Men" included in the special features.

I was gripped watching Luc Jacquet and his team endure the harshness of Antarctica. There were echoes of Shackleton watching them battle high winds while trying to artistically capture the penguins on film. Sans anthropomorphic fluff, I also learned the full extent of the hardship Emperor Penguins suffer in a year’s time – images that might have traumatized younger viewers and tested the G-rating of the movie. This time they didn't leave out the teeth, blood and brutal aftermath. A blizzard hits with whopping 90MPH winds killing nearly a quarter of the chicks - they show the fuzzy corpses dotting the landscape...Jacquet's solemn commentary, “It was like attending a funeral.”

Of course it’s upsetting, but as much as I appreciate documentaries showing the lighter side of nature, I don’t always want the experience to be sugarcoated with sentimentality. To me, telling the whole story of the survival of such enigmatic critters makes me revere them all the more.

Even more Snowy Owls!

Not only are Snowy Owls being presently seen across the state of Wisconsin, Ryan Brady and Nick Anich recently found four of them floating on the ice of Chequamegon Bay along a 2.5 mile stretch from the Ashland marina to Long Bridge. Both of them have been digiscoping the influx of Snowy Owls and have published their images on the web.

Link: Ryan Brady's Snowy Owl Images

Link: Nick Anich's Snowy Owl Images

Link: All about the Snowy Owl from Cornell Labs

Snowy Owl © 2005 Ryan Brady

Birdsong gives clue to breakup of habitat

"Birds in Spain and Morocco are having trouble hearing and copying each other's songs because of the way their habitat has been broken up, according to a study published today. As a result the birds are living in more isolated groups and only learning songs from their closest neighbours. The researchers believe that these changes in song patterns are an early warning of habitat fragmentation, which could lead to lower genetic diversity and inbred populations."

Link: Full Article from Guardian Unlimited

Singing Western Meadowlark image © 2005 Michael McDowell

Adapter Sleeve & DCA tip for AT/ST Swarovski Scopes

Here's a useful tip from Clay Taylor of Swarovski if you're using the Swarovski AT/ST series spotting scope with the DCA and Adapter Sleeve. I've tested it and agree with Clay that using the Adapter Sleeve without the upper collar/cap works much better!

Clay writes:

The Swarovski Adapter Sleeve is part # 660-0234A. I have been tinkering with it, and I think that it is better to use the Adapter Sleeve on the zoom ring WITHOUT screwing on the upper collar/cap (or whatever they call it on the instruction sheet). Two reasons:

• With the collar off, you can reattach the rubber eyecup on the eyepiece. Attaching the collar makes using the eyecup impossible.
• You can slide the DCA Inner Tube down the eyepiece so that the camera and Outer Tube will have a close enough spacing to allow the camera's zoom to get rid of vignetting easily. Otherwise, the upper sleeve stops the DCA Inner Tube from doing far enough down the eyepiece.

The upper collar was evidently designed to "clamp" the Sleeve to the zoom ring of the eyepiece, but once you attach the DCA Inner Tube, its thumbscrew serves the same function. I had no slippage as I turned the DCA / Adapter Sleeve to zoom the eyepiece. So, leave the upper collar off.

One more thing - in the initial setup, slide the entire DCA Assembly (Inner Tube, Outer Tube and Back Plate) down the eyepiece / Adapter Sleeve assembly until it stops. Now the Back plate is resting against the rolled-down eyecup. Now lock down the Inner Tube, which holds the Sleeve in place on the eyepiece. Remove the Outer Tube and attach to the camera, roll up the eyecup for viewing, and have fun!

Clay Taylor
Naturalist Market Manager

Swarovski Optik North America LTD
2 Slater Road
Cranston, RI 02920
Tel. 800-426-3089 x 2959
Fax. 401-734-5888
ctaylor@swarovskioptik.com
www.swarovskioptik.com

All images © 2005 Michael McDowell

Re-discovering Forgotten Photos

(click on image for larger version)

That my digiscoping archive is a bit disorganized is an understatement. The 13,000 or so images I have accumulated are stored in folders by year and month on my computer. About the only index is my website showing dates individual birds were photographed. But every once in a while, either when I’ve come up with a new post-processing technique I want to try or get an idea for a blog article, I think to myself, “Hey, I think I know where that picture is,” it can take quite an effort searching through the images.

While looking for a particular image, I'm occasionally surprised by finding one I can’t believe I didn’t publish on my website. Take this Hermit Thrush photograph as an example of a picture I recently stumbled upon. Thinking back, I remember that day and taking the shot, but it’s interesting how I had completely forgotten about it on account of my sloppy archive system. Now I’m thinking about reorganizing the folders taxonomically, but I think I’ll save that undertaking for the next snowstorm.

Q: How do you organize your digital image archive?

Hermit Thrush image © 2005 Michael McDowell